As is known well, sodium chlorides, antiplasmin agents, allantoin derivatives, vitamines, amino acids and the like, which are used alone or in combination thereof, have been widely used as a composition for enhancing oral hygiene in order to prevent and treat periodontal diseases or to prevent teeth from decaying. However, the preventing and treating effects of periodontal diseases can scarcely be expected. Among the above components, sodium chloride which is known to be effective in preventing and treating the periodontal diseases deteriorates the feeling when the toothpaste is used because the said sodium chloride has its own salty taste and remarkably reduces the foaming properties of the anionic surfactant which is a forming agent to be used in reinforcing the cleaning power in brushing one's teeth.
In order to solve these problems, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. (Sho) 60-92,208 discloses that alkyl sodium sulphates are mixed with N-acylglutamate. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. (Sho) 57-106,606 also discloses that alkyl sodium sulphates and nonionic surfactants such as polyoxyethylene hardened castor oil, polyoxyethylene stearyl alcohol esters, polyoxyethylene stearic acid esters, polyoxyethylene sorbitane monostearates, polyoxyethylene sugar fatty acid esters and the like are used in order to improve the foaming properties of the said surfactants. Further, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. (sho) 49-13,341, it is attempted to decrease the salty taste by using a flavouring agent comprising of a peppermint oil and a spearmint oil. In addition, in Korean Patent Publication No. 90-6,826, it is attempted to enhance the preventing and treating effects of periodontal diseases by using in admixture with sodium chloride, tranexamic acid, aluminium chlorohydroxy allantoinate and tocopherol acetate, to improve the forming properties by using sodium lauryl sulphate as a foaming agent and polyoxyethylene-polypropylene condensation polymers as a non-ionic surfactant, and to decrease the salty taste by adding a small amount of magnesium chloride. However, no good effects are not obtained.
Under these circumstances, the present inventors have extensively studied in order to solve the above problems. As a result, it has been found that in the course of experiments for evaluating the preventing and treating effects of periodontal diseases and the preventing effect of decayed tooth by using a bamboo-salt which is a nostrum derived from the Korean traditional folk secret recipe, a composition for enhancing oral hygiene, containing a bamboo-salt alone or in admixture with a sodium chloride has an excellent preventing and treating effects and decreases the salty taste of sodium chloride itself, and affords a synergistic effect of the foaming properties.
The bamboo-salts referred herein mean synthetic-processed salts by heating a bamboo and a salt. The bamboo-salt has been known as a nostrum having a greatly enhanced pharmacological effects, which has removed the toxin by repeatedly treating several times the bamboo having a cytogenic function to generate new cells with the salt which functions as a sterilizing agent and an antiseptic in the kiln at a high temperature.
In general, the salts to be used in the preparation of bamboo-salts are bay salts. In addition, common salts, rock salts, reagent grade sodium chlorides and potassium chlorides may be used. As the bamboos, bamboos or black bamboos may be used, but the kind of bamboos is not critical.
The bamboo-salts to be used in the present invention are commercially available. The bamboo-salt are prepared by repeatedly treating several times the bamboo having a cytogenic function to generate new cells with the yellow earth, and the salt which is a sterilizing agent and/or an antiseptic in the kiln at a high temperature (1000.degree. C. or more).
As is known, the bamboos and the salts to be used in the preparation of bamboo-salts have the following efficacy. The bamboos contain cyanine, paeonine, galactose and the like, and have excellent effects (Dongeubogam, Botanical List, Mystic Botanical Roots and Korean Heliochrome Medicinal Herb Pictorial Book). The salts have disinfective and sterilizing effects by virtue of a high osmetic pressure. Moreover, they have effects in the gingival bleeding, edema, inflammation, halitosis and severe periodontal diseases (Dongeubogam, Botanical List, and Mystic Botanical Roots).
As disclosed in the old Chinese Medicinal Books, a process for preparing the bamboo-salts to be used in the present invention is as follows: A large bamboo (triennial bamboo) grown in the sea wind is cut off in the shape that the one side is opened and the other side is closed. The bay salts are hardened by pounding into the bamboo-tube, and then the pine needles, mugworts (collected in Gangwha province) and bamboo leaves are charged thereto in depth of about 1 cm. Then, the yellow earth free of manure collected in the mountain is passed nine times through a fine sieve, dried in the shade, and thereafter thickly kneaded. The bamboo tube is sealed up with the above kneaded yellow earth in depth of about 2 cm from the opened end portion of the bamboo tube.
A large number of bamboo tube filled with the above materials are prepared in the same manner as above. The bamboo tubes thus obtained are heated in the pottery kiln which is made of the yellow earth, at the internal temperature of 1000.degree. C. or more, in which pine trees and pine resins are used as a fuel. After 24 hours, the heated products are taken out of the kiln. At this time, the salt posts absorbed components of bamboos, pine needles, mugworts and yellow earth remain only. Then, the salt posts thus obtained are finely ground, and the ground salts are put into the bamboo tubes in the same manner as above, and then the above heating process is repeated eight times. In the ninth heating process, in order to obtain a high temperature (1500.degree. C. or more), a special stainless furnace installed under ground is used. The above furnace is heated by using pine resins only. The salt products are flowed down like a metallic stain spot by treating with the ninth heating process. After completion of this heating process, the molten salt products are hardened like a stone. The salt masses thus obtained are bamboo-salts, and they are usually used in a pulverized form.
The bamboo-salts are effective in detoxication, lifeblood, anti-inflammation, cytogenesis, improvement of habitude, antibiosis, anti-cancer and symptoms of cold [In-Hoon, Kim, Wonder Drug (1986), Synthetic Wonder-Working Remedy, Kwon-Ik, Lee, Wonder-Working Remedy (1989)]. Moreover, the bamboo-salts have been used as folk drugs for 1000 years or more and mainly used by the Buddhist monks.
It has been found that the bamboo-salts thus obtained maintain by far a superior healthy condition of the teethridge with an improvement effect rather than the oral composition comprising of sodium chloride, antiplasmin agent, allantoin, vitamin, amino acid and the like which is used alone or in combination thereof, by measuring the variance of colors in the teethridge. It has also been found that the bamboo-salts have sterilizing effect three times or more than S. mutans which is a pathogenic bacteria of the decayed tooth and the general pathogenes in the test of sterilizing power.